You win the internet today for those two movie stories.:)
How do I find movies? First, I have several very specific interests and search for films on those topics. There are also a very few actors and directors with whom I am impressed enough to always check out their work; I may not watch their next film, but I will at least read reviews and watch the trailer. But mostly, I make a habit of scanning reviews and the various best of/most underrated/most overlooked lists regularly published by the pros. If Sundance or Telluride or Cannes select 80-120 movies, I’m happy if I find six or eight that look interesting to me. And there will probably be another six or eight that look like potential wildcards if I’m in the mood to be a bit experimental. It only takes a few minutes to scan the list.
Very few movies nowadays get big promotional campaigns, and those that do are mostly the big studio tentpoles, which are not of much interest to me. I have no use for flying spandex. (Mind you, I am aware that the flying spandex box office is the only thing keeping the theaters alive right now, and I’m grateful for that.) James Bond was worn out before Sean Connery gave up the role. I’ve seen enough zombie apocalypses and rampaging dinosaurs to last a lifetime. Etc. So the advertising misses me almost entirely.
The streaming networks make huge collections available, but the algorithms serve up endless clones of what you watched last time, which quickly becomes stale. And the streamers all create silos. Unless you want to subscribe to a lot of streamers — I don’t — you get quarantined from the bulk of what is actually available. I prefer to scan the lists, pay attention to the major festival selections, pay attention to reviews (especially in conservative publications), identify movies in which I’m interested, and then figure out how to see them. After a few months, they’re usually available for rental somewhere, but you have to know what you are looking for.
The bottom line is that I prefer to be an active consumer, as opposed to a passive viewer paging through whatever the streaming algorithms shove at me. Once it becomes a habit, it’s very easy to do. It becomes part of the automatic daily routine, like checking in to FR and seeing what has stirred the pot overnight.
And lest I forget: I do pay attention to freepers’ recommendations and add them to my watchlist. I may not get around to them, but it’s a place to start looking when I feel like a movie and don’t have anything specific in mind.
You really do like movies. Thanks for the info.